Archive for the ‘Arsenal’ tag

This year, Gatorade has been challenging the young football athletes of the globe to show us their real workthrough an online contest called “Unreal Around the World,” in which athletes upload a video of themselves putting in the real work necessary to give a great performance on the pitch. The athletes behind the top five winning videos will win a trip around the world with stops at the top football meccas of the world, such as the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in Bradenton, Florida, London, Liverpool, AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, Argentina), and Rio de Janeiro. To support the contest, MKTG INC is giving a taste of an unreal experience to a few elite footballers in London and New York.

On 26 May 2014, at the esteemed Emirates Stadium, 120 local athletes from academies were invited to take part in a competition that was like no other. Wearing technology that measured their biometric output, the teams were sent out to a divided pitch and started with rotations of small-sided games. Members of the Arsenal tech staff were on the sidelines providing their own assessments via an iPad scoring system. Athletes were awarded extra points for creativity and athletic ability.

Based on their scores from the wearable technology and the iPad scoring system, the top 12 overall players and the top 3 keepers were identified and highlighted in a final challenge of football drills. Drills were measured by time, creativity and accuracy.

The emotion of these athletes was intense; never before have they scored a goal to see a reaction of pyrotechnics, smoke and streamers, all in Emirates Stadium. One of the Arsenal legends, Martin Keown, made an appearance and awarded the top athletes with some words of wisdom and a congratulatory message.

Unreal Around the World will visit the New York area on May 30 at Sinatra Park in Hoboken, NJ.